Socialization

Introduction

Socialization refers to the developmental processes through which individuals acquire the values, behaviors, and motivations necessary to become competent members of a culture. Postulated in this form in the mid-twentieth century, socialization remains a central concept in psychology. As a theoretical entity, it has been the subject of extensive empirical examination and debate. It is a normative concept that distinguishes between normal and non-normal ways of being in the social world. As a normative as well as broad conceptual category, socialization has entered into lay discourse and is regularly applied to explain and manage practical affairs; it has been influential in education, parenting, and political affairs. Socialization has been advanced to explain a plethora of psychological matters, including race relations, gender roles, moral decision-making, citizenship, self-control, affect management, and self concept, among others. While it once had a distinctly...